Sprint Nextel Corp. today reported that during the second quarter of 2010, the company achieved its first total net wireless subscriber growth in three years and its best postpaid churn result ever.

Sprint gained a total of approximately 111,000 net subscribers in the quarter. Demand for smartphones like HTC EVO 4G and BlackBerry Curve - combined with Sprint's best ever postpaid churn of 1.85 percent - led to positive net postpaid subscriber growth of 136,000 on the CDMA network and 285,000 for the Sprint brand, and best ever year-over-year quarterly net postpaid subscriber loss improvement of 763,000. The company achieved its best year-over-year quarterly improvement in postpaid gross subscriber additions in more than five years.

The world's first 3G/4G Android phone, HTC EVO 4G, became available in June. Sprint's second 4G-capable handset, the Samsung Epic 4G, was recently announced as the only Galaxy S phone to offer 4G as well as a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Sprint extended its green leadership in the wireless industry by introducing eco-friendly devices LG Remarq and Samsung Restore. In addition, Samsung Seek debuted as a messaging device with first-of-its-kind reusable packaging. For push-to-talk customers, Sprint launched Motorola i1, a Nextel Direct Connect Android smartphone.

Prepaid:

As part of the re-launch of the Virgin Mobile brand to serve data-centric customers, Sprint introduced the brand's first smartphone, BlackBerry Curve 8530, and its first touchscreen handset, LG Rumor Touch. The Virgin Mobile brand will continue to focus on more sophisticated handsets to complement its Beyond Talk plans. Further enhancing the Virgin Mobile brand's prepaid Broadband2GoSM product, Sprint introduced MiFi 2200, a USB device which allows customers to link up to 5 wireless devices.

The numbers:

Sprint announced second quarter consolidated net operating revenues of approximately $8.0 billion, a net loss of $760 million and a diluted loss per share of 25 cents, which includes a non-cash $302 million (10-cent-per-share charge) increase in valuation allowance on deferred tax assets resulting from net operating loss carryforwards generated during the second quarter, for a pro forma diluted loss per share of 15 cents. The company generated $709 million of Free Cash Flow* in the quarter, and maintained a strong liquidity position with approximately $4.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter after retiring all 2010 note maturities of $750 million in the quarter.

WOW..... I can't believe all the hype over this phone. I refer to it as the WHOPPER. Because it is so big , it takes 2 hands to do most anything on it. This is without a doubt the least user friendly phone that I have ever owned, a major disappointment . I waited forever for it, I did get a good deal thru Sprint , and after only 5 days I realized how much I loved my Pre . I was going to send it back, but I found out that they are selling for over retail on ebay . So, BYE BYE Evo ! The guy at Sprint said..." Have you watched TV on it yet?" I replied, " I'm not paying $99.95 per month to watch TV, and I would much prefer to watch TV on my 60" flatscreen anyways. And to answer everyones question, YES, you have to pay an additional $39.95 for the hotspot feature. As far as the 4G goes, I'm sure that it will work marvelously when they have that coverage in my area (which is estimated to be 2 years , according to Sprint). Messaging???? Now there's a chore and a half. The Sprint guy tried in vain to defend the EVO . He said that you can do much more with it than you can with the PRE. I said" REALLY? SHOW ME" The end result , the EVO has a better screen and a marvelous camera, but again, I'm not paying $100 a month for a MARVELOUS camera. Aside from those 2 features, the Pre beat it hands down in every aspect. I thought having a touchscreen for texting would be way cool, boy was I wrong . Me and the Sprint guy did a test where we texted each other the same message at the same time, I beat him 3 times in a row and I spelled every word correctly, where he had mispelled half his words. AND, the 4th race I almost beat him with 1 hand while he used 2. The enormity of this phone is unparralled , so if SIZE MATTERS then you will like it, but you are better off carrying it in a mini briefcase versus in a holster on your belt, it is no lightweight by any stretch . I hope I have not dissapointed anyone out there, but just a piece of advice, don't buy it online before you go to the Sprint store and check it out in person. Had I done that, I never would have bought it. I'll stick with my Pre and hopefully Palm will come out with a 4G Pre with hotspot capability sometime in the future when Sprint has 4G coverage in my area. OH , AND ONE LAST THING, IF YOU DO DECIDE TO GET THE EVO, BUY A COUPLE EXTRA BATTERIES AND ALWAYS BRING YOUR CHARGERS WITH YOU WHEREVER YOU GO.

ROTFL. I totally hear you. When folks ask about the EVO and other big screen superphones, I always say they're really large. The universal response is "I don't care!". I always wonder how many decide the phone was too big for them after a week or two of ownership.

The Palm Pre is one of my favorite phones and webOS simply rocks. The Pre is extremely pocketable, has a wonderful display and it's hard to argue with a hardware keyboard. But I would say its battery life isn't exactly great either .

David Pogue wasn't particularly impressed by the EVO either, and there have indeed been a lot of people who were disappointed with its large size, short battery life, and other limitations. Still, it does have some advantages, such as...